Secrets
by dark-prisim
Summary: A twist to Finnick Odair's sugar cube scene, where Peeta and Cinna aren't' around to save Katniss from exposing her own secrets - and exploring more about Finnick. (Basically, expanded dialogues including Katniss and Finnick)
1. Sugar Cubes

Katniss numbly walked over to the Capitol's horse stables where her chariot awaits the presence of her and Peeta, and all eyes of cheering and praising members of District 1 followed her from above in the stands.

She ignored the desperate shouts and mad applauding and sauntered on, continuing to a pair of large raven horses with thick and luscious manes, one had a small white label under their studded collars in bold print: DISTRICT 12.

They were both connected to a polished chariot designed with gold borders and a natural string of white pansies – in Katniss's relief to roses.

Katniss stroked and glided her hand against the horse's hide and saddle, feeling horrible for how they were treated and fed. She wondered how pathetic she would feel if she were to show off and carry around tributes, and suddenly she felt an odd connection with the horse.

"How did we get here, huh?" she sighed quietly, giving a slight smile to the horse.

"Katniss" a familiar voice called out into the stables interrupting her thoughts, a voice that she instantly recognised. A voice she repeatedly tried to avoid.

"Hello Finnick" she nodded in confirmation before spinning around on her heel to find him half nude.

Finnick Odair. The sex symbol of Panem of District 4, Victor at the age only of fourteen. He had a gold coral themed chain organised around his neck, with a thinner necklace tied to a shark tooth. His toned and bare chest was exposed and he wore only long deep green shorts paired with a thick black belt.

Finnick tossed a small white object into the air and caught it in his other hand as he approached Katniss, "Do you want a sugar cube, Everdeen?" he asked seductively identifying the object.

He turned to the horses, watching her facial expression change. "I mean they're supposed to be fore the horses but, who cares about them right?"

At this point, Katniss was fighting the urge walk away. "They've got years to live, whereas you and I – when we see a chance we better grab it" he finished and flicked the cube into his hand and laid it in his palm presenting it to her.

She turned away from his gift and continued to comfort the horses, and chuckled turning cold, "No, but I would like to borrow that outfit someday" her tone turning bitter and insulting even, seeing the true Finnick Odair – selfish, rude and not worthy as an ally.

He frowned slightly, then composed himself into a luring smirk, "You look pretty terrifying and, ugh, scary in that getup" he shot back with a grimace, not bothering to use sarcasm.

"What happened to the pretty little girl dresses?"

"I out grew them" Katniss replied instantly feeling her palms sweat, as his ego grew on her.

Finnick scanned her up and down, making her feel uncomfortable "And you certainly did" he purred seductively, smirking again.

He sighed and brushed his hand through the horse's mane, "It's a shame about this Quell thing," he nodded.

"Now you – you could have made out a bandit in the Capitol. Jewels, money, anything you ever wanted" he said prodding a finger into her shoulder.

"Well I don't like jewels and I have more money than I need so… uh, what did you do with your wealth anyway?" Katniss asked lousily, and took a step back feeling her blush from the heat under all her makeup.

He took another step forward, "Ooh, I haven't done anything with money in years"

Lie, Katniss thought replaying all the images in her head when she saw him on her television with fancy clothes, houses and anything that he desired.

Instead of saying something too insulting she asked, "Then how do people pay for the pleasure of your company?"

Oops.

Finnick smirked getting used to this little game, taking another step, partially closing the gap in between them. Katniss glanced at him, hiding her fear. She looked around quickly scanning the area for any signs of Peeta, Cinna, or maybe even Effie.

Finnick glanced around as if making sure no one could hear, "Secrets" he hushed leaning in for his answer.

"What about you girl on Fire? Any secrets worth my time?" he asked.

"I- I'm not sure, everyone else know them before I do" Katniss answered, stuttering seeping through her confidence.

"Unfortunately I think that's true" he nodded with a thinking frown.

"You know what else I think?" he tilted his head slightly, his grey ocean eyes drowning her thoughts.

"I don't bother to ask" she muttered under her breath hiding a shaky hand by waving it through her black bouncy curls.

"That you're very pretty girl, woman I should say" he complimented, any girl in Panem would love to trade spots with Katniss at this moment, she was granted lucky, but to her this was nerve wrecking.

She took this as a joke and laughed nervously, "Over all this makeup"

"What's wrong? Is the Mocking jay missing Gale?" Finnick teased and waited for his words to register to her.

Katniss's face had fallen and her eyes widened. _How did he know?_

"Secrets" he repeated in the same hushed tone.


	2. Annie

**Hey, thank you so much for taking your time to read this pathetic excuse for a mini fan fiction. I hope you enjoy! Any reviews would be amazing because I need some advice, and I have no idea where this is going and if I should continue.**

"W- What about Gale?" Katniss inquired, the atmosphere getting volatile as her voice cracked in mid-sentence.

"Oh Katniss, I think we both know very well about your dearest _cousin_" Finnick retorted, obviously knowing a lot more than she thought.

She cleared her throat, and found it hard to swallow as everything just got even more vivid. She opened her mouth to question why he knew so much and she knew so little, but got cut off.

"I'm with the Capitol, honey. And I'm not so sure that cousins salute each other's lips, especially when one of them is engaged." He told her with a bitter taste in his mouth.

This was like a battle of fire and hot coals against water and cool breeze. _Thank god_, Katniss thought, _someone who I'm happy to kill_.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want your secrets."

Katniss scoffed, "I want to you stay out of my business. Why don't you parade your feathers somewhere else, peacock?" she fumed and plastered her view back to the chariot, attempting to ignore him.

"I know what it's like for someone else to control your own life" he said after moments of silence, losing the flirtatious touch in his tone.

She quipped around hungry for more of what seemed to be hidden information personally from the darling of Panem. And who did he think was controlling her? Snow? Did he control him as well?

"You have no idea what it's like to be sold off to Capitol as a… prostitute" he words filled with utter disgust.

"Who's Annie?" Katniss asked suddenly, the words falling out of her mouth.

Katniss knew of Annie Cresta, the poor mad girl that Mags volunteered for during the Quarter Quell reaping in District 4 – and Finnick's true lover. Haymitch had been telling her before of this, and emphasised on Mags being lovely.

The entire colour drained from Finnick's tanned and gorgeous face, and took a dry swallow staring off into the distance turning oblivious. You could hear his breath quicken as he fidgeted with his hands, it looked like he was tying knots over and over.

Katniss watched him for a few seconds, amused never knowing that Finnick would act like this, but then again sympathetic.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Finnick snapped back into reality and he seemed surprised to be in front of Katniss. "I – uh, yeah. Sure" Finnick nodded, recovering from his miniature meltdown.

"I'm sorry" Katniss apologised quietly.

"For what?" Finnick frowned.

"About Annie. I didn't mean to mention her, I just-"

"Was curious? Was interested? That's what everyone says. You know what else they say? That I'm selfish, that I don't deserve Annie"

"I'm sure you do. Sometimes people say things they don't mean" Katniss reassured him, mostly referring to her own mistakes and walked away, leaving Finnick to himself.

"Katniss" he called out again the same way as before.

She turned and looked at him with a sceptical look upon her face. "You forgot something" he told her, holding out the sugar cube with a smile. A genuine smile.

"Thank you, Finnick" she rolled her eyes with a smile and took his sugar cube letting it melt on her tongue then prodded it into her cheek.

"See you at the interviews" Finnick smirked.


	3. Train To Die

**This chapter is partially different, since I added a Peeta/Finnick conversation and such. Special thanks to FeatherPool16 for the support. And this chapter is dedicated to mah buddy Kryilie. Thanks so much for the views, follows, favourites and reviews. I really appreciate it! I'll try and get the next chapter up tomorrow (:**

_Training Day 6:32pm_

"There is always a flaw in the system" Beetee explained to Katniss and smiled.

"Thanks" Katniss muttered with a tiny grin and rose to investigate the other stations, while Beetee and Wiress talked about some other nonsense. She mentally ticked off the stations in her head and realized she hadn't tried out the knot tying station.

Katniss mindlessly found her way to a bench with assorted ropes and stands that held examples of the knots used for snares, fishing, and other strategies useful for the Games. She let her fingers slip through the tassels of one rope, letting the tough texture harass her hands. Gale would love to learn about these ropes, especially for the snares.

"Need any assistance?" a voice drawled from behind her, hot breath stuck on the back of her neck. Tension grew from behind her, and kept growing.

"No thank you, Finnick" Katniss declined, letting her fingertips slip away from the tassels.

"Well I'll help anyway. Because I'm _nice_ and _sweet_" Finnick urged, his words forming pictures in Katniss's mind of sugar cubes. _Nice _and _sweet_.

Katniss turned around, but Finnick wasn't there. "Finally going mad" she muttered shamelessly and went back to the bench only to find Finnick standing on the opposite side. Finnick's eyes flickered at the word 'mad' as if it was offending then looked back up at her.

"Why? Did you miss me?" he asked smirking, leaning in to the table.

Katniss rolled her eyes, "Are you going to teach me, or what?"

Finnick tugged his lips into a smile and gathered a thin braided rope into his hands. "Ooh, you're feisty" he chuckled, yet continued anyway. "Well for starters, if you need to make snares to catch food or… people, you need to tie the rope so it's sturdier" he explained and gestured to his rope. "Like this", he tied the rope in to some form of double knot.

Then he twisted and tugged on both ends of the rope then the knot simply disappeared. "Now you try" he said and offered the rope to her. She pursed her lips accepting the piece of rope from him. Katniss formed a loop then did a single knot, trying to concentrate and retrace on what Finnick had done next but her awful concentration was broken by Finnick's laughter.

She looked up at him with a death glare, one of the many that he ignored. He placed his hands over hers and helped her with the steps. In a few seconds she had created the knot that Finnick had before. Katniss looked up at Finnick, yet her death glare remained plastered to her face. "Thank you"

"I hate how we are here, training to die" Katniss whispered, glaring down at her rope.

"Not necessarily. We have choices that are made" Finnick disagreed, deciding which rope to use next.

"I didn't choose to be a part of the Quarter Quell, Finnick"

"No one did. Snow chose us all to be here. But the choices that you make in that arena, are more important than anything else" Finnick explained and Katniss looked up in to his eyes. The grey ocean eyes that felt so cold and hurtful yet provided warmth, enough warmth to endure her flames.

Finnick cleared his throat then returned his focus back on the bench as Katniss blushed, regretting that moment.

"I'll show you some fishing techniques with the rope" he stated and picked up a black fibre rope showing her different techniques and tricks. He showed her how to use it as if it was a fishing rod, or catch fish from underwater, and started explaining how to create a net.

Peeta overwatched as he and Johanna were experimenting with an axe. "Hey, lover boy. Save Everdeen for later if you don't want an axe flying through your skull, okay?" Johanna threatened with a sweet grin. "Peeta" she pointed over to the Capitol's attempt of a realistic mannequin. "Death" she smirked gesturing to her axe, and threw her axe in between the two plastic eyes of the mannequin.

Peeta swallowed as if gulping down the threat and tried his best not to concentrate on Finnick getting up close and personal with his fiancé… well, not exactly but he'd like to think about her in that way.

"If you want to know more, try Mags" he smiled and looked past Katniss over to Mags, as she was fidgeting with fishing hooks and nets by herself.

Katniss looked up at Finnick and without a word and walked away, heading in Mags direction. "Well" Finnick muttered to himself and wandered over to the knife throwing station, since it would probably help him with his trident skills.

Unfortunately, Peeta decided to trial the new station as well as Finnick. "Peeta" Finnick grinned. "Finnick" Peeta sighed.

"I'm sorry that you had to cancel your wedding. I know _devastating_ that must be for you" Finnick hinted sarcastically.

"I'm sure you are" Peeta mumbled picking up a large knife similar to a steak knife, and weighing it in to his hands.

"What was that?"

"Nothing" Peeta said plastering a fake smile to his face and dropping the knife back onto the bench with a loud clang. "But I know what something is. You know, you seem to have a thing or two for my fiancé"

Finnick chuckled in response, leaving Peeta confused. "You do realize Katniss is a distraction"

"A distraction to what?" Peeta asked frowning as he attempted to throw a pocket knife at a targeted mannequin.

"The Games. If you didn't have this in mind, I'm trying to win" Finnick answered as if it was obvious, and threw a large knife straight into the target of the mannequin.

Peeta raised his eyebrows at Finnick's perfect throw, and then looked back at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you think I was trying to steal your girl?" Finnick asked dragging his fingers along a jaggered blade of a thick knife. Finnick received the second death glare that day.

"All I'm trying to say is stick to Annie" Peeta lowly ordered.

Finnick stabbed hid knife into the table, "Don't talk about her"

"Why? So the other girls don't realize you have a lovesick girlfriend back at home?" Peeta whispered and wiggled the knife that was jammed into the table, placing it back and walked away as all eyes were on the two, even Plutarch Heavansbee.

"No" Finnick simply said.

"It's the nightmares"


	4. Saviour

**Hello there, fourth chapter. And my, my, this is long chapter. I probably won't be posting tomorrow, but to make up for it I wrote a longer one for you. Once again, thank you for the views, favourites and reviews – they keep me going. Enjoy! x (WARNING: swearing)**

_The Hunger Games, Cornucopia, Arena Countdown (10)_

Cinna is dead. Cinna is gone. Cinna did an act of rebellion.

Thank you Katniss Everdeen, The Mocking jay.

9…

Katniss pressured her fingers over her damp cheeks removing the slight tears as she failed to control her unusual breathing pattern. She just witnessed a death, of a friend – probably her only true friend in the Capitol.

8…

Images of gore thrashed around in her petty mind, of blood trickling down Cinna's face and body while Peacekeepers batted him with iron rods. Then the man who showed respect in District 11. And then Rue.

7…

Katniss took one big steady breath and focused her mind into saving Peeta from the terrifying Arena, and slaughtering Finnick. He was good guy, sometimes… but sometimes wasn't enough.

6…

Dead, dead, dead. _I want you dead Finnick Odair_. She clenched her fists until they were white and strengthened her posture.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Katniss immediately sprang into the salty waves, swimming to the stone pathway and pulled herself up. She ran as fast as she could, worries out of her head, and she kept her eye on the bow and arrow inside the cornucopia.

She glanced at left and right for any other tributes. Maybe Peeta, Beetee or Wiress would be good. But no, some unknown tribute and Cashmere.

She forced her legs to move faster, and neared closer to _her_ weapon. She could practically see President Snow ordering Plutarch to position the bow and arrow right where she could snatch it right up.

Katniss pulled an arrow back into the bow's string and released it at the unknown tribute's leg, who was still running up the stone path and toppled over into the water. Although it didn't kill him, it was enough. _One down_, she thought. Her body automatically turned with a new arrow ready to let fire at Cashmere.

Finnick replaced her spot, probably killed her as well. _He would do_.

Finnick quickly raised his wrist, his hair dripping with salt water as he gasped for air, clutching on to his trident. His wrist was accessorised with a gold woven bracelet, the one that symbolised them as a team. Katniss's pin, Effie's hair… and Peeta's bracelet.

"Good thing we're allies, right?" Finnick spoke up, in his usual deep seductive voice, as soon as he caught his breath.

Katniss frowned bubbling with a mixture of emotions. Anger, confusion and adrenaline.

"Duck" Finnick advised simply, Katniss obeyed, and his trident flew over her head into a tribute's torso.

Finnick grabbed another trident from the cornucopia, "Don't trust one and two. I'll take this side, while you hold them off."

"I'll go find Peeta" he added

Katniss remained on the floor as Finnick disappeared behind the cornucopia. "What?" she asked herself utterly confused. She specifically told Haymitch, Wiress/ Beetee/ Mags or no one. Unless Peeta requested for Finnick. Although that wasn't possible because they didn't exactly seem to get along that well.

How come Finnick seemed so organised, as if he planned it out? And since when did he care about Peeta?

Her arms pushed herself up and, luckily for instincts, she shot another tribute – who skilfully dived into the water for cover.

"Katniss!" Finnick shouted.

"I found Peeta, he's over here" he said with no alarm hinted in his voice as he led Katniss over to the other side of the cornucopia.

Peeta thrashed into the water, endeavouring to fight off a tribute.

Finnick and Katniss ran across a stone pathway where Mags stood, pointing with fear over to the mad fight. Finnick looked up at Katniss, as if asking for permission and dived into the water armed with his trident.

Peeta, the enemy and Finnick were underwater for a long time, long enough to get Katniss worried. White bubbles and froth surfaced as well as blood followed by the sounding of a canon. "Peeta!" Katniss yelled.

Peeta, Finnick and a bloody dead body rose to the stop, while everyone exchanged glances.

Katniss was filled with relief as she stood by Mags who was smiling and grasping on to her arm for balance.

The group rushed into the jungle, trying to ignore the hot, humid and foggy air that affected them instantly. They acknowledged the fact that they needed fresh water, and moved on searching for any signs of a lake or mountain stream.

The sounding the canon went off three times.

"Well I guess we won't be holding hands anymore" Finnick laughed referring to when they were holding hands at the interviews.

"You think that is funny?" Katniss asked with a frown.

"Every time that canon goes off, it's like music to my ears" Finnick answered honestly, pointing up. "I don't care about any of them" he shrugged, sweat and saltwater water dripping down his face.

"Good" Katniss hissed.

"Wanna face the Career pack alone? What would Haymitch say?" Finnick threatened to leave.

"Haymitch isn't here" Katniss corrected him

"And that means you have no one to save you..."

"What's wrong Girl on Fire? Where did your flames go?" he smirked.

Mags and Peeta backed away a little. Mags shook her head a Finnick's behaviour, hoping that this wouldn't get any worse.

Katniss tightened her fist and clenched her teeth, fighting all the words threatening to spill off her tongue. But it was too late.

"Asshole"

"Bitch" he shot back.

"Peacock"

"Horse"

"Man-whore"

Finnick gasped, then smirked. "Offensive"

How can he hold his temper so well?

Peeta cleared his throat awkwardly watching the two, "Uh, let's move on"

The four travelled through a deeper part of the forest, where Peeta had to use a knife to cut through the thick vegetation and leafy vines. It went on for a while when suddenly Katniss seemed suspicious about the path in front of them.

"_Force field" _Wiress and Beetee's words filled her mind.

"_Shimmering" "To separate us and them" "Electro-magnetic"_

Her eyes widened as she realised there was a force field in front of them, Peeta got closer and it was too late to warn him. "PEETA! N-" Katniss screamed. Golden sparks flew as everyone got flung into the dirty jungle floor.

Everything was quiet.

"Peeta?" she called out quietly making her way over to his limp body. "Peeta…" she repeated, straddling his body as she grabbed his face in her hands, only to feel no sign of pulse or breathing.

"He's not breathing. He's not breathing. He's not breathing!" she announced desperately, each repeated sentence getting louder.

"Peeta! –" she cried out, Finnick pushed her aside.

_He's finishing him off_, Katniss thought desperately as she pulled her bow and arrow out into action.

But before she could fire she watched Finnick… kiss Peeta? No, he was giving CPR. Blowing air into his lungs then pumping his hands down on his chest, repeat. The arrow withdrawled.

"Peeta" she wept, tears threating to spill in any minute as she laid a hand on Peeta's shoulder.

"C'mon" Finnick muttered, continuing the steps. He placed his ear next to Peeta's chest and frowned.

"Please wake up" Katniss whispered shaking his shoulder lightly.

"Peeta" she kept repeating as Finnick was determined to save his life.

Peeta finally took in a breath of air, flickering his bright blue eyes open. Finnick backed away and let Katniss reunite with her fake husband. She gasped, "Peeta" she grinned through the tears straddling him once again.

"Oh my god", tears spilled down her face.

"Be careful, there's a force field up there" Peeta warned humorously.

Katniss laughed as more and more tears fell. She dived in for a kiss, cupping his warm cheeks with her hands. Finnick watched them along with Mags.

Mags smiled generously, convinced that they were both truly in love. Whereas Finnick crossed his arms and tilted his head, completely unsure.

"Oh my god, you were dead. You were dead Peeta. Your heart stopped…" Katniss sobbed, small drops of water landing on Peeta's neck.

"It's okay, it's alright now" Peeta updated as Katniss hugged him.

"You – You can stand up?" Katniss asked, hiccupping through the sobs.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Peeta smiled, helping Katniss off of his body.

They both stood up and embraced each other tightly, "It's okay" Peeta whispered into her ear, comforting her.

Finnick finally knew that their relationship wasn't a scam. They weren't just "the two star-crossed lovers from District 12", there was a spark. He watched them with confusion, squinting his eyes before moving on.

Finnick was jealous.


	5. Mags

_Hunger Games, Day 1, Midst of Jungle_

The alliance carried out longer than Katniss ever expected it to be, especially with Finnick bonding with everyone. She was resolute to find Beetee and Wiress, and maybe if they were smart enough to see past Finnick's attractive frame they will help her dispose of the egotistical joker.

Katniss was silently begging Haymitch and the sponsors for fresh cold water. _Haymitch you drunk fool, we need water. I thought you wanted us to survive?_ She scanned the arena one last time, turning around in a full resolution only to find the undrinkable sea of salt water and a meadow of leafy green treetops.

She sighed, and looked up at the programed sky. Realistic blue with a few scattered clouds and a glimmer every so often. A glimmer? _Oh, another force field._ Her arrow sprang up into the sky and stopped, hitting the force field and had a ripple effect across the entire arena. Just like it did when Peeta had hit the force field.

Katniss climbed down the tree to report to the group. "It's a dome, the arena. I couldn't find any signs of freshwater." She disclosed.

Everyone sighed with everything but hopeful expressions on their faces, all except for Finnick. "It'll get dark soon. The Careers will be out, so we should have night shifts each night to look after everyone. We'll set up camp here" he explained, not suggested, as if he was the leader.

Katniss scoffed and smiled at how much of an idiot he was. "No way"

"No way? I saved your husband, twice. I could've just let him die, and if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it by now" Finnick frowned; actually offended from the fact that Katniss didn't trust him. He stood up and walked into the forest to search for water himself.

Katniss bit her lip and turned to Peeta, "Why don't you rest? I'll keep watch, I still don't trust him"

Peeta thought for a while, then looked up at her "Just for a little bit" he agreed and winced as he slowly slid down the tree trunk, getting himself comfortable.

Katniss viewed Finnick as he came back from the forest with no luck and attended Mags, helping her navigate around the tree trunks and bushes to find a comfortable spot. He seemed to care about her quite a lot.

The darkness arrived in minutes, as Katniss managed to keep her eyes open watching Finnick like a hawk. He was staring off in to the distance, silently and motionless. "How's Peeta?" he asked quietly.

Even though it was quiet, it made her jump. "He's okay, I think." She stumbled looking for an answer. She was about to open her mouth to say something when the anthem started.

A few people were up in the sky that night, no one important to any of them.

They sat there in silence for a while. "That poem was beautiful" Katniss whispered.

Finnick didn't respond and sat there as if she didn't say anything. "The things you said during the interviews, for Annie" Katniss repeated, unsure if he had heard.

Finnick still didn't say anything and Katniss actually became worried. Or did he just ignore her through hate?

"My love, you have my heart. For all eternity. If I die in that arena… my last thought would be of your lips" Finnick retreated, his expression saddened.

Katniss couldn't help but feel sensitive and weak; Finnick must be truly in love with her.

"Your baby?" Finnick requested, asking if the child was real, yet being attentive to the people who were leaning into their televisions at this very moment.

Katniss lightly shook her head as an answer for Finnick, "She'll be okay" she answered for the Capitol.

Finnick looked down, inspecting some moss growing on the trees. "Oh"

"I'm sorry about the wedding… and your burnt wedding dress" Finnick smiled slightly.

Cinna entered her mind again, but she pushed the gruesome thoughts away. Katniss smiled.

Suddenly a silver parachute floated down and the strange tune sounded as it floated between the two. Peeta and Mags suddenly awoke, and everyone's eyes were on the parachute. Katniss was the first the reach down for it and read the label: DISTRICT 12

It was a silver container and inside it had a card that read 'DRINK UP – H', with a strange cylinder object. "What is it?" Finnick asked taking it off Katniss and angling it around in his fingertips. "It's a spile" Katniss answered as if it was obvious then snatched it off him.

"So how do you get water out of it?" Peeta asked rubbing his eyes.

"Like this" she sighed and stabbed it into a tree trunk.

Nothing happened.

"Good job, K-" Finnick started to insult.

Water flowed lightly out of the thin cylinder then created a heavy stream, splashing water up at their dirty faces. Katniss gasped, not expecting this much water. In the forest at District 12, there wasn't much water in the trees that her father how to use a spile with.

Katniss dipped her head under the spile and starting sipping water. Everyone each had a turn to pleasure their dry throats. Finnick filled a shallow leaf with the water and gave it to Mags.

Twelve foreign dongs sounded off echoing around the arena, not the sound of canons. "What was that?" Katniss frowned looking up into the sky for an answer. "The number of districts?" Peeta suggested.

"Midnight" Finnick confirmed.

Right after his words, lighting struck a tree ahead. And kept striking.

"Well, if you're not going to sleep… I will" Finnick said ignoring the ongoing lightning, and then it stopped going at twelve clashes.

He went over to Mags and lay down on the leafy canopy beside her. Katniss remained watching him, leaning on a tree. Seconds that felt like minutes, minutes that felt like hours.

Her legs started to tingle with pain, so she got up and looked around. Whips of white smoke were heading for her. Her expression frowned with curiosity and confusion. Her fingers met with the moving white smoke. She screamed withdrawing then as pain seeped through her hand, she forced her fingers to move but they felt numb and sore. Blisters started to grow on her palms.

Everyone woke up startled, "Run, run the fog is poison!" she warned weakness hinted in her voice. Finnick slipped Mags over his shoulder and started running along with the panicking group. They kept running, dodging trees, bushes and rocks. Running, running and running.

Peeta fell to the ground, screaming in pain as the fog infected his leg and his limbs started to shake. Finnick turned and looked at Katniss who refused to move on, "Peeta!" she yelled.

"Katniss, hold Mags" he yelled at her handing Mags over to her shoulder.

He dived for Peeta before the fog infected his entire body and Finnick winced in pain and clenched his teeth as he forced himself to move on.

The deathly fog didn't get tired, and kept moving forward hungry for more. Katniss gasped in exhaustion, clinging on to Mags. "I'm sorry," Katniss apologised gasping for air with sweat running down her face. Her legs collapsed as she let go of Mags, "I can't" she whispered staring at Mags with guilt. Finnick stopped running with Peeta and looked back.

Mags shook her head with a smile at Katniss, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She went over to Finnick and kissed his lips then limped into the fog.

"MAGS" he screamed as her body disappeared in the white mist.


	6. Friendship & Death

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, following etc.! I tried writing this chapter a bit faster, so don't be surprised if there are a few spelling errors. Katniss and Finnick will be getting kinder towards each other. I just don't want to rush things like others with Finniss. Oh, and I'm changing things up a bit. Enjoy!**

Finnick was planted to spot staring into the fog, motionless. "Mags" he whispered.

The group four was now reduced to three.

"Finnick" Katniss screamed pulling his body back, snapping him into reality with a wounded Peeta hung on his back.

They ran further into the jungle, and finally the poisonous mist retreated up into the sky like getting sucked up by a vacuum. Their bodies ached with pain and their skin was painted in burning blisters.

Peeta moaned in agony grasping on to his infected leg. "Peeta, it's alright" Katniss assured touching his face gently, although she wasn't too sure herself.

Finnick kept muttering something about Mags, holding his head in his arms. He was propped up to a tree trunk gasping, and then looked around frantically. His eyes slightly lightened at the sight of the undrinkable water. His hand dived into the sandy bank, and he yelled clenching his fist. Despite his painful state he continued to dip his arm in further to the water, wincing in the process.

"Finnick, what are you doing?" Peeta asked curiously.

Finnick fished his arm out of the salt water and revealed the clear flesh. "Salt water. Aids the blisters. Mags taught me." he explained and pushed his entire body inside the water, clenching his teeth fighting off the urge to scream.

"I'll catch some fish in the morning, and find something to eat tonight" he added, before he held his breath going inside the water to illuminate the blisters completely.

Katniss's eyes flickered and she dragged Peeta, as carefully as she could, into the healing water. Peeta started screaming, and then managed to control his breathing as the blisters disappeared. Katniss walked in water as well, smashing her head underwater then screamed.

Everyone's skin was blotched with red patches, but definitely felt a lot better than before. They found a secure place beside the lake and followed their previous plan to set up camp. Peeta had accidently fallen asleep; as he said he was going to stay awake with Finnick and Katniss.

"There are still hours 'til morning" Katniss sighed, examining the raven sky.

Finnick shook his head, picking off strange fruit from a tree he found and dropping it in his woven leaves basket. He had claimed to see the fruit in the Capitol, so it wasn't poisonous. "Three hours"

Katniss frowned, clenching her fists, "How are you supposed to know?"

Finnick was about to ignore her and continue to grab the fruit from the tree, but turned around and glared at her. "Why do you hate me?" he yelled.

Katniss was taken aback from his words. "I – I don't hate you" she mumbled avoiding his eye contact.

"No need to lie. Just don't bother" Finnick seethed, dropping his basket of fruit and started to walk away.

"Finnick" Katniss shouted grabbing his shoulder. He winced slightly from the slight pain and turned around, "What?" he spat.

"I like you"

His eyes widened at her, and she started to blush from the misunderstanding. "No – not like that" Katniss quickly said.

"It's just that I've been too focused on helping Peeta survive and this whole… Hunger Games" she used as an excuse.

Finnick nodded slowly, then walked back to the basket and continued to pick fruit from the tree without a word.

"I'm sorry about Mags" Katniss said sympathetically, almost like it was her fault.

"Hey, let's be honest here. She was never going to make it" Finnick sighed shaking his head.

Silence went on for a few minutes. Only the sound of snapping fruit off a tree branch was heard.

"What's your favourite color?" Katniss asked unexpectantly, remembering how Peeta asked her the exact same question when they were talking about friendship.

"Sorry?" Finnick misheard, turning around and sat at the roots of the tree with his basket.

Katniss gulped. "What's your favourite color?" she repeated.

Finnick smiled slightly at this and looked over to the dark emerald sea surrounding the cornucopia. "Green" he answered, sliding his tongue over his dry and cracked lips.

"The ocean, green?"

"No. Eyes" he corrected and glanced over to her eyes.

Katniss couldn't help but think for once, that he actually looked slightly attractive. With his dark golden locks, that was now dusted in dirt, making his hair appear to be even darker. And tanned face, shining in the dim moonlight coated in glossy sweat, mud and red splotches he received from the blisters. It made him seem warrior like. Even a bit like Gale.

_What are you thinking Katniss Everdeen? Snap out of it._

"Katniss?" Finnick smiled, waving a hand if front of her face. He knew she was watching him, but held back the insults from slipping off his tongue.

Katniss jumped completely startled, at Finnick getting so close.

"Your favourite color?" he asked. Katniss wasn't sure if he had asked it before when she was daydreaming, but it didn't matter.

"Green" she said, stifling a small laugh.

Finnick opened his mouth to say something hysterical, but Katniss interfered. "No Finnick, I'm not copying you" Katniss rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Okay" he nodded raising his eyebrows, returning the smile.

Finnick reached out for one of the strange fruits in his basket. The fruit was an unhealthy blue, speckled with strange yellow dots in the shape of an orange but had the texture of a mango. "Funny. I've never tried these before" he smirked prodding it with his trident.

"Are you sure it's edible?"

"Yes. I saw Johanna eating them at a party once, she said they tasted awful, but who what else can we do?" he shrugged and slipped his trident into the flesh, slicing the sphere in half.

The flesh was green and soft, similar to an orange.

He threw the other halve over to Katniss and she caught it with one hand, inspecting the fruit immediately.

Finnick was the first to suck the tender sage flesh, wiping his chin as the juice ran everywhere. He held it away from his face for a moment as if waiting for poison to set in to his body. Then turned to Katniss with an approving smile, "It's alright"

Katniss started to nibble on the flesh, eating each part slowly.

After eating through eight of the mysterious Capitol fruits, dawn arose, lightening the black sky with a few highlights of pink scattered everywhere. It actually would have looked pretty maybe, if they weren't stuck in the arena.

"Let's wake Peeta before we meet up with any Careers" Finnick instructed as usual.

Katniss nodded and went to shake Peeta's shoulder, but Finnick stopped her.

"Hey. We should have even a little fun before we die, right?" he said with an old smirk.

Katniss probably must've looked confused because Finnick laughed and dragged her along to Peeta. "Put your face in front of his and scream" he explained.

"I always used to do it do… do it to – never mind" he huffed.

Katniss and Finnick positioned their faces directly in front of Peeta's, waiting for Finnick's signal. "Now" Finnick whispered. They both screamed until Peeta awoke moaning and rubbing his eyes.

"Wha-?" Peeta mumbled, still half asleep. He opened his eyes and jumped into the dirt, cursing under his breath.

Katniss and Finnick fell to the floor laughing at his expression. "Yea, real funny guys" Peeta rolled his eyes, trying to hide a smile.

"And that's exactly why we're laughing" Katniss chuckled, controlling his laughter.

Finnick looked alarmed, and stopped laughing. He slowly tapped Katniss on the shoulder and pointed to the large monkey behind Peeta.

They started to bounce up everywhere, surrounding them in dark shadows. There was no way out, and the only way out was infested with Careers at the cornucopia.

Katniss instantly drew her bow. She had to put Peeta in front of her life first.

Finnick snapped his trident up, and a few monkeys got frightened.

"Peeta. Walk as calmly as you can over to me" she instructed cautiously with no alarm in her voice.

That failed. Monkeys started going crazy, making loud noises and sneering dangerously at the humans. Peeta, Finnick and Katniss went back to back and waited for the monkeys to attack. But more and more kept coming.

"Get to the beach" she said quietly to Peeta, and he obeyed instantly.

The monkeys continued with the dangerous grunts and clomping of teeth.

"Just you and me, huh?" Finnick heaved, armed ready with his weapon.

The monkey rampaged forward at Finnick and Katniss, showing off their sharp claws and deadly teeth. Katniss shot any monkey that got to close and Finnick used his trident as a spear, stabbing then all at once.

The monkeys were furious with Finnick and headed towards him. He struggled to hold them all off and accidently missed one as it lunged towards his chest and dagged it's claws into his body. Finnick yelled in pain and a morphling ran out from a nearby bush, scaring the nearby monkeys.

"Finnick" Katniss shouted, heading towards him. He wouldn't respond and remained motionless.

"FINNICK?" she shouted louder, shaking his body.

Yet nothing happened.

A canon went off.


	7. New Allies

**My posting patterns are so weird… I hope you guys don't mind. And just a heads up, I have no idea where this story is going so expect the unexpected (MWAHAH). Thank you everyone who reviewed, I love your support. This chapter is boring, so… Enjoy? I guess? I don't know.**

"Don't you dare die, Finnick" Katniss's voiced cracked, grabbing Finnick's lifeless face and bringing him up to her.

His eyes were shut tightly, as if he was still in pain after dying. The monkey's claws had ripped most of Finnick's jumpsuit, and his skin was leaking with maroon liquids. He started to moan, frowning.

"Still alive. Unfortunately" he whispered, his eyes still screwed shut and body motionless with a smirk as he held on to Katniss for support.

Katniss slapped Finnick across the face, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"I thought I was dying?" Finnick flinched grabbing onto the right side of his face.

"Me too" Katniss fumed and got up to look for the morphling.

She didn't have to look very far. The morphling was lying on the ground dead as Katniss suspected, with similar markings on her chest to Finnick's. The monkeys must've attacked her as well when she ran, that's why the canon sounded.

"Finnick" Katniss whispered.

"I can't move" Finnick moaned in response, clutching his face and looking down at his crimson chest.

Katniss looked back at Finnick biting her lip. She shouldn't have slapped him when he was already in so much pain. But she needed to, needed to slap him into his senses – oh and she has always wanted to slap him since the first time they met.

Katniss snatched some flowers out of the soil and braided them in the morphing's dirty hair. The girl looked young, and obviously had someone to love back at her District. And now her life is gone. Katniss may not have known her, but she had a valued life as well that was thrown away because she was forced into the Hunger Games.

She wanted to show the Capitol that no one was a part of their Games.

Katniss kissed her fingers and raised them staring into the jungle, somewhere where the cameras are.

"Get Peeta" Finnick ordered quietly, in a voice barely audible. He was losing more blood then before.

Katniss nodded quickly and ran out to the beach, but there was no sign of Peeta. The sun had risen from the sky, and there was no longer a moon. Pink sky with a white hot beating sun. "Peeta!" she called out, looking up and down at the beach. He might be hiding somewhere, and it should be easier to find him in this light. Or he could have been taken by the Careers.

"Katniss"

Peeta rose from underneath the sand and Katniss sighed in relief. Losing Peeta would be a nightmare. "Where's Finnick?" he asked, concerned. Katniss's face turned solemn and serious, "He's injured"

Peeta and Katniss managed to move Finnick onto the opening of the beach. Katniss used Peeta's knife to cut open the torso area of the jumpsuit. It was worse than anyone had thought.

Seven large streaks were marked deep into his chest, seeping with more and more blood. "Oh my god" Peeta whispered.

"Is it that bad?" Finnick asked, reminding them that he was still conscious.

Peeta and Katniss shook their heads lightly; they didn't want to worry him.

Katniss rewinded her mother's healing process in her head. She rarely saw her mother heal people, because she thought the image of dead people were gruesome. With deep cuts, her mother cleaned the blood with water and some sort of ruse to avoid infection. Then stitched the cuts, and bandaged them up.

Great, this wasn't going to be easy. And they couldn't leave Finnick in this state or he would lose too much blood.

"Water" Katniss told Peeta and he nodded, collecting the spile and stabbing it into a nearby tree. He emptied the basket that Finnick had made and was full of fruit then left it under the spile. Water filled the basket and Peeta had handed it to Katniss.

"This is going to hurt a bit" Katniss warned Finnick quietly. She hated watching people in pain, especially Finnick – after all he has done for Katniss.

Finnick nodded silently and shut his eyes, preparing for the agony.

Katniss tore some moss off a tree to replace a sponge and dipped it into the basket, dabbing his chest lightly to remove the blood. Finnick's breathing increased, clenching his fists and made a few sounds of pain.

All the smeared blood had been erased from his muscled chest, but blood kept deciding to ooze from his thick wounds. "We need something to prevent infection" she said quietly and shook her head. She could practically hear her mother applauding her.

They had no medicines and exchanged worried glances, and no one knew how to create a mixture for healing. A silver parachute floated down and Katniss gasped lunging towards it and throwing off this lid. It was some sort of black ointment that smelt like mint, obviously for Finnick. Also a silver needle. _Thank you, Haymitch_.

Katniss grinned at Peeta and scooped some ointment into her palm, ready to rub it onto Finnick's chest. She leaned over his body, and started to massage it into his skin softly. Finnick placed his hand, on top of her spare one and shut his eyes as she cured him.

Moans of pleasure escaped from Finnick's mouth as she continued to rub the ointment into his gashes. Katniss's cheeks flushed with red watching Finnick.

_Clean. Medicate… stitch._

This was the worst part, and there was nothing that could knock him out to avoid the pain. Blood would go everywhere and just the thought of this made Katniss queasy. "Peeta" she said, feeling sick. "Can you go fetch some vines? They have to be thin"

Peeta rushed off and retrieved some vines from the jungle. Katniss carefully split the thin vines in half so they would be thin enough to fit through the needle.

She squeezed Finnick's hand then let go. She didn't have to tell him that it was going to be painful, because he already knew. "Just let me die. Please" Finnick insisted. Katniss frowned at him, "Don't be a fool"

Katniss started on the first cut, using the tough vines as thread. Finnick screamed digging his fingernails into the sand and blood smeared everywhere again. She finished the first cut, then went on to the second and third.

"Finnick, relax" she whispered her voice shaking. Finnick bit on his lip to prevent himself from screaming, but that only made him dig his fingernails further into the ground.

She had one more gash to stitch up, and Finnick looked like he was about to lose it. Katniss glanced at her husband but he was facing away, he never liked the thought of blood and needles either. "Odair, stay still if you want me to help you" she advised for the fiftieth time.

Katniss managed to stitch the last cut and smiled, proud of her work. Seven cuts were stitched up, but his body was once again covered in blood. She used the remains of the water and moss to dab his body. "I'm done" she announced to both the men. Peeta sighed in relief and turned back around.

Katniss covered him in another layer of ointment and covered him in fresh mosh, tying it around his waist with leftover vines. She grabbed the sleeves of his jumpsuit and supported him as he slipped his arms through.

Katniss smiled at Finnick and he managed a weak smile in return.

"Maybe the ointment will work for our blisters, and great camouflage?" Peeta suggested.

"You're so smart Peeta" she grinned and shared a kiss with him on the lips, while Finnick looked away.

They each covered their bodies with black ointment, and it made them look like monstrous beasts with bumpy blotchy skin. The combination of scabs and the ointment looked truly hideous, and Katniss couldn't help but enjoy Finnick's distress. "Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" Katniss teased watching him scowl at his body.

"It must be. The sensation is completely new. How have you managed all these years?" he asks, clenching his teeth as he stood up.

"Just avoid mirrors. You'll forget about it" Katniss shrugged.

"Not if I keep looking at you" Finnick smirked dangerously.

Katniss couldn't help but blush again, as Peeta rolled his eyes avoiding an argument with Finnick.

Finnick had gone fishing at the bay as he promised earlier, despite Katniss's pleas to rest. Peeta gathered their fruit off floor and collected some water from the spile, while Katniss kept a look out for anyone or anything threatening.

Finnick ended up catching four large fish and many oysters, and they ate fish raw since it was too dangerous to light fire especially at this time of day. They ate the last of the fruit and drank some water by large shallow leaves, then washed their faces.

Peeta opened one oyster and found a pearl inside. He grinned looking up at Katniss, "For you" he said and gave her the pearl as a gift. Katniss smiled and shook her head at kind he was even in the arena. "Thank you"

Peeta smiled at her.

A loud feminie scream caught their attention, coming from over the sea. Trees were falling to the ground like dominoes then a gigantic wave emerged with the sound of canons. The group quickly stood to their feet as the remains of the monstrous wave washed up at their feet.

They were so distracted by the wave they didn't notice the other tributes that had decided to move in. "Someone's here" Katniss informed, ducking down with Peeta as she pulled her arrow back into place.

Finnick stood upright and peeked from the bushes as he stared at the other tributes.

"Finnick what are you doing?" Katniss whispered.

There were three tributes covered in some red substance that looked similar to paint, making their way slowly to the beach. Finnick ignored Katniss and left the bushes. "Johanna"

He ran towards the group, "Johanna!"

"Finnick!" Johanna grinned embracing him in a tight hug and he grunted pushing her away. "Sorry, I've got cuts everywhere" he explained with a smile, forgetting about Katniss and Peeta completely.

"Guess we have new allies" Peeta sighed breaking the silence between him and Katniss and made their way over.

Johanna, Beetee, Wiress.

Katniss instantly remembered her plan to kill Finnick.

She didn't want to follow that plan anymore. But Johanna she couldn't trust.

**Did everyone like this chapter? Wasn't much, but I'm telling you now the next one will be (:  
Preview to next chapter:**

Ever since Johanna joined the group it was as if Katniss and Peeta had disappeared. Well, Peeta disappeared a long time ago but that doesn't matter. Every time Katniss went to talk to Finnick, he flicked her away. Okay, maybe the things she said to him were a bit harsh but they were still a team and Finnick was still her friend.


	8. Oblivious

**I hated this chapter personally. I never favoured Finniss but I love to write about it – don't ask. Thanks for everything guys! I'll try my best to get the next chapter up ASAP, I'm just so tired. And (slight spoiler) there will be a sequel to this fanfiction! **

Johanna was explaining her encounter with the jungle and the 'red paint' when suddenly Wiress, who was dripping wet came to her side and muttered 'tick tock'.

Johanna paused to push her away, "And started chocking us. So we stumbled around gaging on it blind! That's when Blight hit the force field, I know… He wasn't much, but he was from home" she said and stared into the distance.

"Tick tock" Wiress said interrupting the silence.

Katniss frowned, "What's wrong with her?" she asked, concern hinted in her voice.

"She's in shock" Beetee explained emerging from the waves as he rubbed his glasses lenses with his thumb.

"Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?" he asked politely.

"We can get some" Katniss answered instantly.

"Shut up" Johanna told a muttering Wiress as they began to cling on to each other.

"Get off of me!" she said and pushed her to the ground.

"Hey! Don't touch her!" Katniss shouted, and pushed Johanna back. They started fighting and somehow ended up on the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa" Finnick said managing to pull the furious Johanna off Katniss.

Johanna glared at Katniss and controlled her breathing, "I got them back! For you!"

Katniss staggered back and took her words in, confused. "For me? What does that even mean?" she asked Peeta.

Finnick, Johanna and Beetee sunk in the waves to get cleaned up. Finnick avoided going to deep in the water, since he was afraid it would affect his injuries .

Peeta stared at Johanna and shrugged. "You did want them as allies" he reminded her.

Katniss had figured out Wiress's strange alert, about the arena being a clock. The entire arena was split into twelve sections. Each section consisting of evil torture: Fog, monkeys, wave, rain…

"Wiress you're a genius!" Katniss shouted, holding her face. That grabbed everyone's attention back at shore. Wiress intimidated Katniss and grabbed onto her face as well.

After explaining a few things and experiencing a few deaths, the team fled to an unidentified section of the jungle.

Six was reduced to five.  
Wiress died.

Everyone was silent on the journey, to find a good camping spot. "So besides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss piped up, attempting to start a conversation.

"Maybe Chaff? Just those three…" Peeta confirmed.

"They know they're out numbered. And we can easily just attack them" Finnick added as always, sounding almost as intelligent as Beetee.

"What? So we just waltz around the arena, trying to hunt them down?" Johanna asks, cocking her eyebrows.

"Yes" Finnick answered simply.

A scream surfaced, sounding desperate and the words 'Katniss' were repeated in pain.

Prim.

"Prim!" Katniss yelled instantly and ran into the jungle, leaving the group behind. The screams continued to repeat her name.

"PRIM" Katniss called out searching frantically around the jungle. A bird had caught her attention, flying circles above her head. "Jabberjay" she whispered to herself and shook her head. She quickly shot the black bird down before it could cause her anymore stress.

"Katniss" Finnick rushed over to Katniss, filled with relief.

"You alright?" he asked grabbing her shoulders.

Before she could have time to answer, a different scream developed, louder and stronger calling Finnick's name. "Annie" he whispered desperately, running in the opposite direction. "Annie!" he yelled.

"No, Finnick – it's Capitol mutts" Katniss protested as she followed him, grabbing shoulders.

"Jabberjays, I know. But they copy sounds. Where do they get the sounds from?" Finnick shouted at Katniss, over the screeching of black birds.

Katniss felt her stomach drop and knew that Finnick was right, but they would never be allowed to torture any loved ones of theirs. Especially under the protection on Panem.

"Finnick you idiot, listen to me!" Katniss frowned.

"Listen to you? That sure has worked many times, Girl on Fire. More like Girl on -" Finnick argued sarcastically, then shielded his head with his arms as birds continued to yell.

Anger bubbled inside of Katniss. "You self-centred freak! What is wrong with you? You only flirt with other girls because there's a part of you missing, and that's Annie! But you defiantly don't deserve her – how should I know? You're not worthy even of the worst of women. If Panem knew who you truly were, they wouldn't have treated you like royalty" she ranted, and took a deep breath obviously wanting to get that out for a long time.

Finnick just stood there staring at her. It wasn't quite a glare, but he just stood there. It was like the time when she though he was dead, still and motionless.

To make matters worse, a blur of raven Jabberjays swarmed over their heads and nipped at their necks, screaming and yelling.

Katniss couldn't handle it.

"Katniss, help me!" she heard her mother's voice.  
"Catnip!" was Gale's.  
"Katniss!" Prim repeated.

Katniss started to scream with them and ran away, like she could run away from her problems. Finnick was bought to his senses by only Annie's screams, and ran as well as he covered his ears.

The voices and yells started to get mixed in a big and messy jumble, sounding like razor blades. They had to find out how to get out of this section of torture and find everyone else – not the Careers. They managed to see them in the distance and as they got closer, they noticed that they all had their hands pressed against something that they couldn't see. Like it was invisible.

Peeta was mouthing something to Katniss, or maybe she just couldn't hear him over the terrorising noises, but whatever it was it wasn't working. Katniss and Finnick banged into the force field, with confusion.

"Katniss" Peeta yelled, pressing his hands against the invisible force field.

"Finnick" Johanna banged the window with her fists.

Beetee watched on with concern spread over his face, as he inspected the force field with his glasses.

It was too late help Katniss and Finnick as they were screaming as well and no one could tell the difference between the cries of help. Katniss slowly sank to the floor, trying to cover her ears shut – but that obviously didn't work.

Then everything went black.

Katniss was later awoken by Peeta's gentle gestures. He smiled at her softly when her eyes fluttered into focus, "What happened?" she asked first.

"You blacked out from the all the stress. Beetee found a way to knock the force field down while Finnick hasn't said anything to anyone for a while" Peeta told her mixing good news with bad.

"Oh" Katniss said sadly, pushing herself up and brushing dirt off her pants. She needed to speak to Finnick.

He was sitting on a nearby rock with Johanna as she comforted him. "Finn?" she quirked waving a hand in front of his face which remained lifeless.

"Maybe he's paralysed?" Beetee suggested examining his odd behaviour, under his glasses.

"Finnick! Are you alive?!" Johanna yelled into his year.

"Johanna, that's not helping" Beetee sighed.

"How come Katniss isn't like this?" Johanna folded her arms and glanced at Katniss.

Katniss bit her lip nervously, and she knew that Finnick was like this because of her. Not because of the Jabberjays. "Katniss fainted though" Peeta answered for her, not knowing that he had saved her.

"Yeah…" Johanna sighed and nodded.

Finnick started to fidget with his hands again, tying knots in mid-air.

"Finnick, are you okay?" Johanna asked softly, in a tone no one has ever heard before from her.

Finnick snapped, slowly turning his attention to Johanna, "I'm fine" he nodded. Then he returned to being oblivious to world again.

"This is my entire fault" Katniss whispered.

"How?" Peeta asked obviously hearing her whisper.

"I yelled at him" she answered quietly and simply, not wanting to go into details.

Peeta looked relieved then quickly made his expression sadden. "Well then" he cleared his throat. "Must've been bad"

"Yeah – but…" Katniss tried to defend, then gave up.

"Prim" Katniss remembered suddenly and stood to her feet, which only got her pulled down by Peeta. She started to go frantic. "They won't touch her" Peeta assured her calmly.

"You're fiancé is right, the Capitol adores your sister, the last thing they would do is to torture her. Riots would rise all over Panem, and head for the Capitol" Johanna explained leaving Finnick's side.

Everyone was staring at Johanna, in complete shock – even Finnick.

Johanna just smirked and looked up at the sky and started to yell, "Hey Snow, what if we set your backyard on fire?" she laughed hysterically as if it was some big joke.

"You know, you can't put everyone in here" she started to get angry and slammed her axe in a tree.

Everyone was silent, even the birds and trees. If Snow was there at the very moment she'd be dead in seconds. Her whole family and friends would be eliminated. She watched everyone's expressions and shrugged.

"What? He can't hurt me. There's no one left I love"

"I'm getting water"

They all travelled to the shoreline to eat, wash up or collect fresh water. Finnick left the group and walked into the bay, then sat down. "Hey, what are you doing?" Johanna called out, not expecting him to respond.

"I'm at home" he answered quietly leaving everyone puzzled.

Finnick had experienced desperate screams from his girlfriend, real or fake, it didn't matter. And the extra weight of Katniss's insults made the situation a whole lot worse. He needed be surrounded by something familiar, something from home, to comfort him. The water.

"Who's Annie?" Katniss asked Johanna quietly and tried to get a real answer out of her.

Johanna squeezed the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Annie Cresta, the girl that Mags volunteered for. She won like four years – five years ago" Johanna's voice broke.

"Is she the one who went a little…" Katniss drifted, not wanting to say the word 'mad', as if it was suddenly offensive.

Johanna nodded and stared off into the distance.

Later during the night, they had camped up in tall tree besides the shoreline. Johanna was stuck with Finnick, embracing him in her arms as he shut his eyes. Beetee was busy with a coil of wire, and muttering something to himself. Peeta fell asleep… again. And Katniss was watching everyone, since there was nothing else to do. She had let her hair out of her messy and knotty braid.

Ever since Johanna joined the group it was as if Katniss and Peeta had disappeared. Well, Peeta disappeared a long time ago but that doesn't matter. Every time Katniss went to talk to Finnick, he flicked her away. Okay, maybe the things she said to him were a bit harsh but they were still a team and Finnick was still her friend.

Was she?

"I'm getting some shut eye" Johanna announced releasing her grip off Finnick and slid down the very tall tree meeting a dozing Peeta.

"I'll join them, I assume you two are able to stay awake" Beetee added grabbing his wire and a snapped a branch off the tree to draw something in the sand below.

The atmosphere suddenly became a lot more awkward and humid as it already was. Katniss tore some bark of the thick branch she was sitting on and kept breaking it into smaller parts. Something made her look up at Finnick. She noticed that he was glaring at her as if waiting for something.

"I apologize" Katniss whispered.

Finnick didn't say anything as usual.

"You're going to have to speak to me sometime, Finnick"

Finnick shook his head, and sipped some water out of his woven basket.

"Annie does deserve you." She added desperately. She hated to admit, but she actually missed the long awkward conversations at night with Finnick and his offensive insults.

Finnick just rolled his eyes, taking another sip of water.

_How can I make him talk? Oh wait… I know._

Katniss crawled over to his branch, and he shifted uncomfortably. "Say something" she whispered in his ear and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I hate you" he announced quietly.

"Progress" she shrugged and looked down at her legs.

"You want to know my secret?" Katniss asked.

This actually caught Finnick's attention. Katniss opened her mouth, and then quickly shook her head to dismiss the idea. "What can I do to make it better? After all the things you've done for me?" she whispered to herself.

"This" Finnick said and pressed his lips against hers.

**DUN DUN DUN. What did you guys think? I tried to make this chapter short, but it just didn't work. It's 2am and apologise about any sort of errors yet again, and I hope you can read your way around them. **

**Preview to Chapter 9:**

"You're so spoilt!" Peeta yelled, making birds nearby flee.

"P-Peeta" Katniss whimpered.

"You're on your own" he seethed, and span around to leave the team.

"Peeta, wait!" Johanna ran after him as her eyes widened, not risking to lose him.


	9. Love & Hate

**Tension! I love you all so much for your wonderful support! As you can see I have tried to post this as soon as possible, and it's really hard because I have to either read the book chapter again or watch the move scene or just make something up. Enjoy!**

This was weird.

Katniss created a sound of surprise as adrenaline and this whole new feeling surged through her veins. It wasn't just another kiss with Peeta, or a strange one with Gale. This kiss had lit flames.

It started out slow and awkward at first. They were ready to rip each other's throats out only a few minutes ago, so this was a slight expectation. They were pushed up against Finnick's branch, lips moving in sync. His tongue made its way into her mouth and it was a battle. He won. The way his tongue moved with her lips in perfect motion made her heart race. Obviously he had done this before.

Finnick tore away from her lips and grabbed his basket of water.

"Goodnight" said quietly and slid down the trunk of the tree, embracing Johanna.

Katniss just watched him in disbelief. _Did he really just do that? It was all too quick to understand._

"I apologize" she whispered and leaned on his branch. She couldn't sleep, even if she wanted to. Her mind raced with different thoughts. Katniss had disobeyed:

Panem

Peeta

Gale

She needed to talk to Finnick, desperately and tell him that the kiss was definitely a misunderstanding towards her, but then again she couldn't. The man was lying in Johanna's arms, yet again frozen. _I guess 'goodnight' was a lie_.

_Better get some sleep, if one of us is awake. _

Katniss tied some vines around her legs to the thick branch and tried to comfort herself.

What Katniss didn't know is that Plutarch had cut the kissing scene and aimed the cameras at the Careers instead of the romance for once. "Ah, young love" Plutarch muttered in the Gamekeeper's room. Finnick did know.

Katniss didn't sleep that night.

_Arena, Morning – Day 3_

"I have an idea" Beetee declared, finalizing his drawing in the sandy dirt and clung on to his coil of wire. "That just might work" he smiled.

Katniss inched over to Finnick. "We need to talk" she insisted staring at Beetee's drawing.

"Wait, let me get Johanna up" he excused. "She'll be rabid if she thinks she's missing something important"

"Or not" Katniss muttered rolling her eyes, mostly because she was always rabid and the fact that he ignored her yet again. And she didn't stop him; otherwise she'd practically be a living time bomb if she was excluded from this.

Peeta stood next to Katniss giving her an expression she couldn't place. "Something wrong, Peeta?" she asked quietly with a slight smile. This made Peeta look slightly agitated.

"I see the way you look at him" he mumbled.

Katniss grimaced, "Finnick?"

They didn't have any other time to speak as Johanna stumbled her way into the semi-circle with Finnick.

"If you were Brutus and Enobaria, knowing what you do now about the jungle, where would you feel safest?" Beetee asks.

There is a long ongoing silence between everyone. It's not that no one knows the answer – just Beetee's tone similar to a school teacher. Maybe it was the age difference or that Beetee was just a thousand times smarter than the rest of them.

"Where we are now, on the beach" Peeta gestured.

"So why aren't they on the beach?" Beetee branched, and peeked out from his glasses waiting for an answer for one of them.

Peeta frowned in thought, not being able to answer this one for the team. "Because _we're_ here" Johanna answered impatiently.

"Exactly. We're here, claiming the beach. Now where would you go?" Beetee smiled at their progress. Johanna groaned at how long this was taking.

"I'd hide at the edge of the jungle to spy on us" Johanna slouched quickly.

"Also to eat" Finnick joined in, Johanna smiled as he talked. "The jungle's full of strange creatures and plants. But by watching us, I'd know the seafood's safe" he finished. "Progress" she grinned, and images and vibes from the kiss surged through Katniss all over again.

She quickly shook the images out of her mind and focused on the unreeling plan.

Beetee gives us a brief nod and smiles, as if they had reached his expectations. "Yes, good. You do see. Now here's what I propose: a twelve o'clock strike. What happens exactly at noon and midnight?" he continued.

"Oh my god" Johanna muttered as if she was going to die right there. "The lightning, for Christ's sake!" she exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.

Beetee explained a detailed plan with his wire, the big tree and programmed lightning. The plan seemed difficult, but something that might just work.

Katniss: _Okay, maybe English next time?  
_Peeta: _I have to talk about this with Katniss… and also something else.  
_Johanna: _I feel like papaya.  
_Finnick: _… Uh. _

There was a long pause for everyone to digest what Beetee had just explained. Everyone was thinking different thoughts, some very abstract from others. Was this plan going to work? Would they know how to harness power from the sky? Was it all just a hoax?

"Okay, good. So…" Beetee smiles, waiting for an agreement.

"I say we have a go." Katniss agrees. "I mean, if all fails – what do we lose?"

"She's right. I say we go for it" Peeta smiles at Katniss.

Finnick looks at Johanna waiting for answer from her. He wouldn't leave her. "All right" she says finally. "Better than hunting them down anyway"

"I'll get ready now, while we can actually do it in a few hours" Beetee announces.

The crew relaxed at the trunk of the tree while Beetee did all the work and 'got ready'.

Katniss went over to Finnick to speak to him about the kiss, and all the strange feelings and odd behaviour. "Hello" she greeted weakly propping her body against a large bit of stone.

"Hey" says Finnick.

"Why?" she asks simply.

"I had to. You know… before we die"

Katniss sighed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't even know"

"Love?" questioned Katniss.

"I don't know" Finnick shook his head. He didn't say anything else, and got up to find Johanna.

He was toying with her feelings. Katniss was a strong girl and didn't fall into love. She didn't like fishing either. Casting in bait then reeling in a small fish, once you've had enough staring at it, you toss it back into the water, realizing that it was useless. Tears silently slid down her cheek. Katniss realized something.

A cold hand on her shoulder made her jump, and she quickly prepped her bow into action only to find Peeta shielding his hands up in defence. "Oh" she laughed, swiping the tear stains from her face.

"Hi" Peeta half waved, biting his lip slightly. Katniss nodded in return. Peeta noticed her damp cheeks, but didn't dare question it.

"I saw it" words fell out of his mouth.

Katniss's eyes widened and her heart started pound against her ribcage, "Saw what?"

"You know what I'm talking about" Peeta frowned, look over at Finnick who was laughing at something with Johanna.

"It was just a kiss. He- he kissed me!" Katniss started quietly.

"Yeah, let's believe that" Peeta rolled his eyes.

"Peeta! We're not even engaged!" Katniss screamed, and that snapped everyone's heads in their direction. Johanna looked surprised with Beetee, while Finnick scowled knowing it all along.

Silence followed as Peeta glared at her. Katniss knew for a fact that he wasn't going to say anything, but she was then proven wrong.

"You're so spoilt!" Peeta yelled, making birds nearby flee.

"P-Peeta?" Katniss whimpered.

"You're on your own" he seethed, and span around to leave the team.

"Peeta, wait!" Johanna ran after him as her eyes widened, not risking to lose him.

Johanna spoke to him while Katniss and Finnick exchanged a mixture of glares and sympathetic looks.

Katniss Everdeen hated Finnick Odair.

Hated the way he talked to her, the way he smirked and stared. She hated the way he acted like a film star. The way that he always glared. She hated his chiselled chest and the way he reads her mind. She hated him so much it made her sick, it even makes this rhyme. She hates the way how he's always right. She hates it when he lies. She hates it when he makes her laugh, even worse when she makes him cry. She hates it when he's not around and the fact that he ignores her. But mostly she hates the way she doesn't hate him…

Not even close.

Not even a little.

Not at all.

Katniss Everdeen loves Finnick Odair.

**Very short chapter, hope you don't mind. And this is not exactly interesting, but the next one shall be (hopefully). All rights of the Hunger Games go to Susanne Collins, who is incredibly amazing, since I used specifically a lot from her book in this chapter.**

**(No Preview for the next chapter. MWAHAH)**


	10. Astonishment

**This chapter is not as long as the others but I had a particularly tough time deciding what to write about. Hope you enjoy this chapter, although I, myself am a bit confused on where this is going. Thanks for the views, reviews etc. Enjoy!**

Moments passed, Johanna seemed to soothe Peeta although she had absolutely no idea of what was happening and the ongoing tension grew between Peeta, Finnick and Katniss.

Peeta and Finnick were ignoring Katniss, no matter what she did. And believe me, she tried everything. Talking was useless, throwing rocks, screaming and then in a matter of time crying. Fresh tears overlapped the old ones, slipping over her reddened cheeks and she sat next to Finnick trying to get him to talk to her.

Beetee's plan was delayed due to emotional breakdowns produced by everyone. Even Johanna who seemed to be turning into the next Wiress, muttering strange things to herself and rocking her body under a tall tree.

Finnick, Peeta and Johanna had washed up by the bay. Not they needed to; it may have been from the sadness or pain – not dirt.

Finnick slowly turned his head in Katniss's direction and took in a deep breath, avoiding looking her in the eyes. He didn't want to see her in pain. "We'll figure it out later" Finnick said quietly to her and turned away as if he didn't say anything, water dripping from his hair.

_We'll figure it out later? What's that even supposed to mean?_

"There is no later" Katniss growled, pulling her knees up to chest, water mixing with tears on her face.

Finnick smirked and lightly shook his head, as if she was the stupid one. "Okay, Girl on Fire" This reminded her of the late nights in the arena how he was always so _difficult_ to talk to.

Katniss scowled, "My name is Katniss, lover boy"

"Who are you calling lover boy?" he frowned inching towards her.

Katniss hated the way he toyed with her, and decided to fight back. "You. Idiot"

"Well" he muttered grabbing a piece of her dark damp hair and tucking it behind her ear.

"Why do you do that?" Katniss asked flinching back.

"Do what?" he whispered with a smirk as his hand made its way over to her shoulder.

"That…" she answered gesturing to his touch.

Finnick chuckled, plastering his hand to her shoulder. "What's wrong? Do I scare you?"

"Barely" she lied. She realized that he had always taken advantage of her. "Especially for someone so strong and pretty on the outside… yet so weak and ugly on the inside"

"Is that how you see me?" Finnick asked, slightly taken aback from her words, dinting his confidence slightly. "Pretty?" he smirked. He never ceased to amaze Katniss with his never ending ego.

"And weak" Katniss quickly added returning the smirk, playing at his little game.

Finnick rolled his eyes and slumped back to the tree trunk in defeat. Katniss laughed at his reaction, knowing she had won this "battle".

"You haven't won yet" Finnick reminded her, swiftly grabbing her wrists and pulling her closer. He placed his hand firmly on the small of the back, pushing her innocent body against his. Katniss exhaled sharply, she did not expect him to do this.

"Be careful what you say to me, Katniss Everdeen. Like you said, no one wants to see my ugly side" he whispered into her ear, nuzzling against her neck. "Don't make me hurt you" he said seriously, levelling his eyes with hers, their lips inches away from each other.

He smirked letting his grip go and leaving Katniss astonished and completely transfixed. She wanted to show him that she wasn't the weak one in this duo, the one got controlled easily.

"Are you always this feisty when you're wet?" Katniss asked, straightening her posture.

"I was going to ask the exact same thing" Finnick muttered, chuckling under his breath staring into space. Katniss widened her eyes into a glare and flared her nostrils at him, shocked by his behaviour.

"Ah" she was speechless, her breath quickening.

"Ah" he mocked her tone.

"Are you ever going to tell me your secrets?" Finnick asked seductively after a while.

Peeta approached the two, who was previously talking to Johanna. "Peeta" Finnick smirked with a brief nod and walked off, chuckling to himself. "Finnick" Peeta sighed, remembering the training centre chat.

"What did he want?" Peeta asked replacing Finnick's spot.

"My secrets" Katniss smiled slightly, as if saying sorry.

"He'll have to get in line then" Peeta laughed, knowing that Gale was in the line as well.

"Look Peeta, I never meant to do that to you. He just did it. I didn't know what was happening and the last thing I'm thinking about is a relatonsh-" Katniss's rant was cut off by Peeta's lips.

It felt nothing like Finnick's.

It was soft and gentle, caring even. Just like Peeta. This was a real kiss, not one for Panem or the audience. It was a sympathy kiss. Peeta lightly pulled away and revealed a necklace in his hand.

"I made it before we entered the arena" he explained quietly.

It was a gold charm necklace with a large pendant, covered in gold. Peeta opened up the pendant and it revealed a photo of Prim, her mother and Gale. Katniss gaped at the gift then back up at Peeta.

"Peeta…" she started, a small smile playing on her features.

"Katniss" he grinned back and planted the pendant into the palm of her hand then shut it.

"If we die, I want to you to win" Peeta whispered.

Katniss instantly remembered the plan to protect Peeta. "I'm not planning to let you die" she smiled.

Peeta smiled back.

Suddenly a feminine scream emerged and a canon sounded.

It only took a few seconds to realize whose scream it belonged to.

"Johanna" Peeta and Katniss whispered at the same time.

**Hope you liked this chapter! And Johanna ):  
Preview to chapter 11:**

"**You traitor!" Katniss screamed thrashing her arms around, trying to attack.**

"**I thought I could trust you, all of you!" she whimpered.**

"**Katniss, we were trying to help you"**


	11. The End

_Boom._

Another canon.

"Johanna and…" Peeta started but didn't bother to finish as he was already up on his feet, frantic to make his way back to his either dead or alive team.

Katniss followed in a hurry, clutching onto her pendant and quickly prepping her bow as she left deep impressions against the hot sand. Peeta and Katniss neared their group's small campsite, only to stop in their tracks.

They both stood there, without a word. Not even the birds were chirping.

Johanna and Finnick's bodies were lying flat immobile on the dirty jungle floor. No traces of fresh blood. No traces of Beetee.

Katniss held on to her breath and tensed her muscles as she slowly staggered over to the frozen bodies. _This better not be a joke. _

Johanna and Finnick mirrored the same expression of shock, as if their possible deaths scared them. Katniss couldn't touch them. She collapsed to her knees and examined their bodies as silent tears strolled down her cheek.

"Be alive" she whispered hoarsely, with little faith that they'd answer her plea.

She shut her eyes.

_Johanna Mason_. Fierce and scary, but if you dug deep enough – sensitivity and truth. She had confidence and pride of who she was, not a confidence of laughter and jokes. Something special. Johanna said she had no one to love, although she did. Finnick, Katniss, Peeta, Beetee. Then her life was taken away in pure seconds, by something or someone absolutely sickening.

_Finnick Odair_. A difficult sort of person, not only difficult to talk to but to understand. There was never a later. His television personality was charming, seductive and maybe even evil. If you see past his transparent structure, he was weak and quiet. Good at making plans. Finnick's last thought was of Annie's lips, and the genuine guilt of never meeting them.

Katniss shot her eyes open, suddenly angry and furious. Peeta was gone as well. "Peeta?!" she shouted and looked back to the bodies. Everything was going wrong. "Beetee?!" she screamed jumping to her feet.

The jungle was unnaturally silent and dark.

Maybe this was Beetee's plan all along. Make allies. Kill them. Win Hunger Games. And all his 'great' ideas were a hoax.

"Beetee? Peeta?" she whispered now with fear. She was next.

"Johanna… Finnick" said Katniss with a barely audible tone, saddened by the fact that they were dead. "Finnick" she repeated kneeling beside his body.

Her body was confused. It had to find Peeta, kill Beetee, and weep over Finnick all at the same time. Katniss clutched on to her pendant, reminding herself. And it had to hope that her family forgave her.

To stop all this madness, lightning stuck like usual indicating twelve o'clock. Before it could strike twelve times, a magnifying crush echoed through the arena and rippled across the surface of the transparent dome.

A strange sort of pressure pushed her body flat into the ground. Katniss screamed as she squirmed in the dirt obviously unable to get up. "Stay down" a familiar muffled voice told her as the body refused to release her.

A deep searing pain blossomed in her arm, causing her to scream louder. It was a blade. Cold and sharp as it entered her delicate soft skin and quickly withdrawal. "Stay down, or I will kill you" the voice repeated, getting angry.

Katniss gave up and slumped her face into the dirt, shutting her eyes, facing the fact that she was going to die. The body had removed itself, pleased and proud from its well done work. Katniss's vision had blurred in and out of focus, reminding her of Rue and the way she died.

Thoughts of Prim and her mother and Gale. District Twelve. The smell of hot bread in the mornings. Peeta. Haymitch. Effie. Beef stew, cooked under hot flames. Cinna. The dress on fire that would never be endured by waters. Mags. Fishing hooks and weapons. Johanna. Parts of the Capitol. Her Prep Team. Annoying kisses. Finnick…

Darkness.

It was all too fast.

A massive explosion blew her and everything surrounding her in the air. Father like daughter, explosions took their life away. Katniss's last vision was of the Capitol ship taking her _lifeless_ body to her awaiting arrival. Possibly even Snow's smirk.

Voices awoke her deathly slumber, shifting her eyes and focusing them all over again. Wasn't she supposed to be dead? A mumbling mixture of Haymitch and Plutarch's voices arose in the distance. Katniss frowned, gliding her fingertips over her arm only to feel the texture of a scar. She was not dead at all.

Maybe they decided to save her and not let her slowly die.

Maybe they saved Peeta. Even Johanna and Finnick.

Katniss shifted her body to the side, blinking her eyes into focus. _Beetee_.

Beetee was lying beside her on the floor, his injured chest rising and falling, and his face seemed to be attached to some form of oxygen pipe. There were two other oxygen pipes currently inactive. Katniss's breathing increased as she forced her body to move off the floor, only to slip and discover that her legs had no feeling.

She grunted in frustration, smacking her legs to wake up in a hurry, as if Beetee was going to wake up in any second and finish her off just like he did to his so called "team". Katniss got herself to finally stumble up, using the cold iron walls for support. _How long was I out for?_

She noticed a cart of medical supplies on the floor and snatched up a sharp needle, ready to attack if needed to. Katniss expected a room full of Capitol people and glares.

The voices she heard were increased, with new people joining in the conversation. The door was inches away, glowing with orange light and chatter beneath it. Katniss pressed her ear against the door, but these obviously weren't the doors from District 12. They were made stronger out of some cold white material.

Muffled voices only could be heard as Katniss attempted to decode their sentences.

"What is she going to do when she finds out?"  
"Look, I don't know. But all I can say is… don't say anything"  
"Nice advice"  
"Thank you"  
"So, we can't even tell her ab-"  
"We've got company"

There weren't just two people in there. Katniss started to realise that _company_ was her.

The door facing her was automatically swept to the side to reveal a larger room filled with many people, books, chairs and a large table in the middle.

"Morning sweetheart" Haymitch smirked.

Katniss screamed throwing herself at Haymitch as she desperately wanted to plug the needle into his skin. "What is happening?!" she yelled as her body and arms were pinned to the wall.

Haymitch grabbed the needle off her and threw it to the ground. "This is why sweetheart, you don't make the plans. See…" Haymitch half gestured to the room as he continued to pin her arms. The room was full of people. Plutarch, Effie, Johanna and Finnick. _Johanna? Finnick?_

"People are alive" he explained to her. "They're dead" she screamed thrashing her arms around. "They promised to protect you. We had a plan all along" said Plutarch.

"All of it?!" Katniss yelled furiously and she glanced over to Finnick. He was dressed in a dark coloured robe, washed and aided like the first time they met.

"The whole thing" Plutarch nodded.

_Everything? The conversations. The laughs. The smiles._

Katniss went frantic kicking, biting and knocking. "You didn't tell me!" she screamed. "Stop, stop… Listen" said Finnick referring to Haymitch.

"We didn't tell you because it was too risky being watched by Snow all the time. Better for you to know nothing" Haymitch explained. His last words echoes through her mind painfully. Finnick's words were fake the whole time. _A distraction_, he had told Peeta. That's what he meant.

Katniss pushed Haymitch off, trying to relax and push everything out of her mind but something bugged her.

"Peeta. Where's Peeta?" she asked, glancing at the needle on the floor.

"Uh oh" Johanna said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Katniss" Plutarch spoke. "You have been our plan from the beginning. It was always to get you out" he nailed into her confused mind, changing the topic off Peeta.

"Half the tributes were in on it" He explained.

_Johanna, Finnick, Beetee, Wiress, Morphlings, and other tributes swore to protect me. Why?_

"Because you were the start of a new revolution. You're the Mockingjay"

_I'm the Mockingjay._

Her attention snapped to Johanna and Finnick. "You – you. This was your plan all along. Everything was fake?!" she seethed.

"You traitors!" she screamed as Haymitch grabbed her again, her body thrashing everywhere.

"Katniss, we were trying to help you!" Finnick insisted.

Katniss looked at the floor, staying silent. "We're headed for District Thirteen" Plutarch said.

"Thirteen?" she questioned. And everyone nodded.

"Where's Peeta?" She asked for the second time. Everyone looked stressed by her words, like they were deadly and obnoxious.

Haymitch turned away a sighed, Johanna and Finnick started to grab their faces, Effie remained silent as Plutarch came over to her beside Haymitch.

"Peeta still has his tracker, whereas you have gotten yours cut out by Johanna" Haymitch explained. _That was Johanna?_

"Where is he?" Katniss asked ready to kill everyone in that room.

"He's in the Capitol" Haymitch answered cautiously. "They got him"

Everything went quiet, only for a second though. "You son of a bitch! You lied to me!" Katniss yelled slapping Haymitch and digging her nails into his skin. "You promised me, you'd save him! You're a liar…" Katniss went on, to be stopped by the needle injected into her arm but her words kept droning.

"You're a liar… you're a liar" her body fell to the floor.

She awoke once again upon a proper hospital bed, her head aching with a mixture of fresh words and people. _"He's in the Capitol" "District Thirteen" "You're the Mockingjay" _

"Hey there Catnip" a soft voice whispered.

Katniss's eyes shot over to Gale. It took moment before she realized that it was him. "Gale?" she frowned, even more confused.

"Prim?" she requested.

"She's alive. And your mother" He nodded in conformation.

"Are you upset?" she whispered remembering the moments with Finnick.

"What do you mean?" he asked frowning a little, trying to hide his smile. "I think the needle really grew on you"

Katniss narrowed her eyes and studied his face. _How did he not miss the footage? Unless the camera was on Careers? Thank you, Plutarch_.

"After the televisions went out, minutes after there were bombings. Everywhere, I barely escaped myself" he explained.

Katniss nodded. "When are we going back to District Twelve?" she asked.

"Katniss… there is no District Twelve"

"It's all gone"

**Thank you for reading my fanfiction this is the last chapter, but no worry. I'm creating a sequel "Secrets 2: Revolution", I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, favourite etc. Please tell me all your ideas for the next fanfiction and what you thought of this one since it is my first proper piece for Katniss and Finnick. How do I end this? **

**The end.**


	12. ATTENTION

I started writing it! It's called,

Secrets: The Revolution

if you're interested. Enjoy!


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